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Timeline of West Indian History
The following is a timeline of the history of the West Indies, a nation of islands located in the Caribbean. Pre-Columbian 19th Century * 1831 - The Baptist War in Jamaica became the largest slave revolt in the West Indies, resulting in ten days of brutality and death. The loss of life in the Baptist War caused the British parliament to examine the institution of slavery and ultimately begin the process of emancipation. * 1834 ** August 1 - Slavery is outlawed throughout the British Empire. * 1840 - Changes to voting laws allowed a majority of blacks and mixed persons to vote and participate in the political process in the West Indies. * 1847 - A black Bokeyan, Edward "Ned" Walker, is inspired by the liberation of Liberia and creates a pamphlet proposing the idea of independence from the British empire. * 1850 ** September - A black man in Bokeya is put on trial and sentenced to death after being accused of stealing food from a plantation owner. ** October - The trial was largely seen as unfair and an example of the power of the plantocracy that continued to rule the British West Indies, prompting a separatist riot on Bokeya. The riot was forcibly put down by British forces in an event known as the October Revolt. * 1853 - A separatist, religious, organization, the Gator Cult, formed in the Bokeyan interior. They began a campaign of burning plantations and sugar mills during the "Summer of Rage". * 1854 ** Ned Walker is questioned before parliament regarding his association with the Gator Cult. ** The British governors crack down on the islands, enforcing curfews and martial law. ** The first West Indian Assembly meets in Trinidad and Tobago with representatives from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bokeya, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. ** Representatives from the West Indian Assembly send a petition to the King noted as the West Indian Proposal. The proposal outlines a potential solution to the ongoing unrest and conflicts, suggesting that the islands be permitted to write their own constitutions and elect their own representatives to be approved by the West Indian governors and parliament. They further implored that they be granted reprieve from the governors' unrestrained powers and martial, and be given fair representation in parliament. The letter was summarily dismissed. * 1855 ** February - The Battle of Makaima. British Intelligence had been chasing leads for months regarding the activities of the Gator Cult in the Bokeyan interior. They discovered that the group had been stockpiling weapons at an ancient temple known as Makaima. Warning quickly reached the cult that the British army was marching from the Bokeyan capital of Kingsport. The Cult, led by Christopher Clarke, the first Golden Gator, faced a loss against the British forces in the jungle but managed to repel the army at the temple itself, shattering their forces with guerilla tactics. They used this momentum to turn the tables on the British and begin the seige of Kingsport. ** April - William Hunt, a Black British immigrant in Trinidad, wrote a treatise entitled Civic Virtue, touting the benefits of Republicanism and the ultimate necessity of liberty. ** August 20 - The West Indian Assembly meets again to discuss the siege of Kingsport. They ultimately decide that war will be the only route to their freedom from the crown and the plantation owners. They formally found the West Indian Army and a Jamaican representative, Victor Elliot, pens the formal West Indian Declaration of Independence. * 1856 ** Christopher Clarke is declared the supreme leader of the West Indian Forces, taking charge in the Battle of Kingsport. The battle concludes the months long siege and is a devastating loss for the West Indians as they realize they are outnumbered and outgunned. Clarke retreats his forces into the Bokeyan interior and redirects their fledgling navy to Trinidad and Tobago. ** A former American slave, Prince Shields, leads a small troop under the cover of night to raid British armaments in Kingsport, sabotage their supplies, and smuggle weapons, goods, and foodtuffs to the West Indian forces in the Bokeyan jungle. For his bravery he is made Clarke's aide-de-camp. * 1857 - In an effort to consolidate support and strengthen the West Indian forces, Jamaican statesman Thomas Martin pens the West Indian Federal Constitution, enumerating the powers of the loose federation and the responsibilities of it's members. * 1858 - Clarke employs a strategy of guerrilla destruction over seizing territory. The army systematically destroys plantations, mills, and other tools of industry used by the British. Though the sugar industry had already been in decline for little over a decade, this campaign sent the industry into a free fall, bankrupting plantation owners and prompting them to abandon the West Indies. * 1859 - The Federal Constitution is ratified by all 12 member states. * 1860 - The West Indian forces manage to wrest control of Kingston, Jamaica from British forces prompting a conclusion for the war and the beginning of peace talks. * 1862 ** The Treaty of Kingsport concludes the West Indian Revolutionary war. ** The West Indies begins accepting refugees from the American Civil War, contributing to a growing population of former American slaves, though they remain otherwise neutral in the conflict. * 1865 - Under the constitution, the West Indian Parliament would serve as the federal legislative branch, the West Indian Council, consisting of all member states leaders, would serve as the executive branch, and the Court of Justice would serve as the Judiciary. Unanimously the parliament wanted to appoint Christopher Clarke as the Parliamentary President but he refused the offer, wanting instead to serve as the Bokeyan leader. Clarke would gain a seat on the Council while Victor Elliot would become the first West Indian President by a narrow margin.